Stay Safe WMNFers! Track storms with this public radio storm app

Share

Want to track the storm brewing in the Atlantic or the Gulf? It is easy to do with your smartphone or tablet with the Florida Public Radio storm tracking app. And it works outside of Florida too.

WMNF is a member of Florida Public Radio Emergency Network. You can see their logo on the bottom of every page on WMNF.org. Clicking on the logo gets you to a great weather page. But if you want to know everything when you look at your phone, you can download their free app, Florida Storms.  Right now it works on iPhones and Android.

Get more information

The Florida Storm Tracker app also has new features. The app lets you know if you are in an evacuation zone; the storm trackereasiest route out of your evacuation zone; and how to get to the nearest shelter. We sincerely hope that we don’t have to use these features, but it is good to know they are available.

There are lots of websites that you can use to see whether or not you will be able to mow the lawn or hit the beach this weekend. The National Hurricane Center is of course always on point. According to Weather.com, the forecast for the current hurricane season has 12 named storms and 5 hurricanes predicted, with 2 major hurricanes (Category 3 or higher). One of the big factors with tropical storms are the systems, El Niño and La Niña.  They are labels for the cyclical differences in oceanic water temperatures and the air above. That is a very simplistic explanation – the links give you a ton of info if you are interested. For Florida storm information and tracking, the important part is the fact that El Niño might switch up with La Niña soon, during hurricane season.

Painful anniversary

This week marks the 24th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew. It tore poor South Florida to pieces, and at the time was the most destructive hurricane to hit the US. Sixtyfive people died, and thousands lost their homes, communities, and ways of life. Hurricane Andrew’s damage and destruction reshaped Florida’s building codes and insurance market, since neither at the time were adequate to stand up to the storm.

2016 so far

This year was slightly unusual in that there were 2 named Atlantic storms before the hurricane season officially started on June 1; Alex (Hurricane, January) and Bonnie (Tropical Storm, May). Two more Tropical Storms, Colin (during the WMNF summer fund drive) and Danielle formed in June, and tragically Hurricane Earl caused extensive damage and death in Central America this month.

Tropical Storm Fiona dissipated just this week, and Tropical Storm Gaston is still moving in the Atlantic ocean. Which is why we want to make sure you have the app!

The rest of the name for storms this season are Hermine, Ian, Julia, Karl, Lisa, Matthew, Nicole, Otto, Paula, Richard, Shary, Tobias, Virginie, and Walter.

Stay tuned of course to WMNF to hear not only great music and interesting public affairs (had to put a plug in!) but also if there are weather warnings and any potential weather related hazards out there.

Leave a Reply

  • (will not be published)

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>

You may also like

Daft Punk’s Interstella 5555: A nostalgic journey through music and animation

Last night, I was able to go see Daft Punk...

A woman in a green jacket speaking into a microphone. She has headphone on and is seated inside of a radio station studio where a background that says "WMNF 88.5 FM" in the background.
Pinellas State Rep. Lindsay Cross talks hurricane recovery, a holistic approach to conversation, and more

“You can’t underestimate the toll it takes on people’s mental...

“BEING UNDERESTIMATED OR OVERESTIMATED” on Morning Energy

“Don’t Underestimate The Power Of Being Underestimated“…Tim Fargo It has been said to “never...

TBT’s Stephanie Hayes Breaks It Down For You

Nationally syndicated columnist, Stephanie Hayes of the Tampa Bay Times...

Ways to listen

WMNF is listener-supported. That means we don't advertise like a commercial station, and we're not part of a university.

Ways to support

WMNF volunteers have fun providing a variety of needed services to keep your community radio station alive and kickin'.

Midnight Soul
Player position: